I did not divert pension funds as VC, says JAMB Registrar

The Registrar Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board ( JAMB), Professor Is-haq O. Oloyede, yesterday rubbished reports that he diverted pension funds during his tenure as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin.
He also said he was never involved in any N3.5billion fraud at any point in time.
He said he has never in his life collected bribe or inflated contracts.
Oloyede was reacting yesterday to a petition sent to the Ibadan Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) against him and the current Vice Chancellor of UNILORIN by some members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities( ASUU).
The JAMB Registrar attributed the petition to some of the lecturers of the University of Ilorin who were sacked but later reinstated on the order of the Supreme Court.
He insisted that he did not at any time tamper with the pensions of staff as a Vice Chancellor.
He said: “The Pension Act of 2004 provided that 7.5 per cent of emoluments should be deducted from staff salaries and remitted into their pension accounts with Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs).
“Most universities, including the University of Ilorin, based the calculation of 7.5 per cent on basic salary and transport allowance. This was the case between July 2004 and December 2006 before I became Vice-Chancellor.
“ I know no PFA and if salaries were deducted and saved in employees’ accounts, I would not be the beneficiary.
“Then, from January 2007, the Government that is matching the employees’ contribution with another 7.5 per cent directed that the deduction should be based on Consolidated Pay.
“Some universities were compelled by the fake and fraudulent campus hyenas not to comply with the directive of 2007.
“About two years into my tenure, my attention was drawn to the new decision which was of course advantageous to workers whose higher sum was being equally matched by the Government.
“I convened a meeting of stakeholders including the Unions on the Government directive and all parties agreed not only to commence the higher savings (which Government doubles rather than double lower contributions) but also to double the difference for a certain number of months to ensure full compliance with effect from the stipulated January 2007.
“I summoned the Ilorin representatives of all the PFAs to reiterate the date of compliance from when higher matching additions from Government should also be credited to each contributor’s account.
“Any averagely educated person would understand who the beneficiaries of the compliance are, who for their tomorrow sacrifice a part of today’s comfort rather than the unreasonable agitators who insist on consuming tomorrow.
“Some universities under the spell of some club crawlers do not comply to the eventual disadvantage of their unfortunate retirees and perhaps to the advantage of clever PFAs.
“If those who parade doctoral degrees cannot understand this simple logic, may God save Nigeria from the anarchists. I as Vice-Chancellor complied and I believe few other universities did. How that would benefit me personally baffles me.
He said he has never in his life collected bribe or inflated contracts.
Oloyede added: “I am extremely selective in accepting gifts from even personal friends. My needs are limited and my legitimate income is sufficient to spend on my volunteer work. I have never in my life collected bribe, inflated contracts, extorted anyone nor accepted gifts beyond “Thank You greeting cards” from any contractor, dead or alive.
“As Vice-Chancellor, I started the practice of publishing the financial transactions of the University every Monday in a publication circulated far and wide by hand and online. This has happily been sustained by my successor to-date.
“Those who have skeletons in their cupboards don’t choose to publish their financial details. I am aware many universities don’t do so till today and the charlatans who make frivolous allegations against me should mention their mentors who do so.
“Information Technology is good to determine the quality of the hirelings assembled to assassinate my character. The only one I faintly know among them led his pastor and his father-in-law, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, to me in order to mount pressure on me to offer his wife, the Vice-Chancellor’s daughter, a temporary appointment as an Assistant Lecturer. I bulged to pressure out of deference to the father-in-law (because the Department could do without an additional lecturer) and the man of God. But soon thereafter, this character became a strong advocate of withdrawal of the power of temporary appointment of the Vice-Chancellor!
“I do not claim perfection as it is the exclusive preserve of the Almighty Allah but I dare say I stand on a higher moral pedestal than “the 49 liars” and their masters. God will continue to keep them busy and they shall continue to lament their failure at the University of Ilorin and in life precipitated by their own inner insolvency. The barking of dogs does not affect the flight of a plane.
“This statement is just to re-assure my admirers that the allegations against me are like pure wind with no solidity. I remain who I have ever been by the special grace of Allah, the Almighty.
“Lastly, my explanation does not foreclose the possibility of legal action against the authors of the campaign of calumny against me and their willing collaborators.